This sermon is based on John 6:24-35.
An audio version of this sermon is available here.
A friend of mine lives financially on the edge every day.
This past week he shared the last of his food with a hungry friend. Later that
night he woke up starving; he had no food in his apt. He was so hungry that at 1:00
am he walked from New Town in Staunton to Kroger grocery store and back, to
spend the last of his money on some food. Now that’s hunger! That’s a powerful
craving.
In his own day, Jesus cared for people who were hungry. Our Gospel
lesson last week recorded the story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. He saw that
they were hungry; he had compassion on them; and, based on available resources,
he miraculously fed them. Today’s Gospel is a follow up story about hunger and
food. Many people from that same crowd of
5,000 track Jesus down; they find him on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
They’re after him for more food. And who wouldn’t be. If you’re hungry, you’re driven,
like my friend, to find food.
The crowd’s interest in food is an occasion for Jesus to talk
about another kind of hunger and another kind of food and another kind of
eating. He says, “Do not concern yourself with the food that perishes, but concern
yourself with the food that endures for eternal life.” What is this food that is
eternal? And what kind of hunger is Jesus talking about?
Well, what he’s talking about is a spiritual kind of food,
that satisfies a spiritual kind of hunger in the human soul. There is a hunger
for food that helps us live physically;
there is another kind of hunger for food that helps us live spiritually; a
hunger for food that helps us not just to live but to live with purpose and
meaning and dignity. That’s the kind of hunger and soul food Jesus tries to get
the crowd to think about. “Hunger” in this metaphorical sense is a spiritual kind
of hunger, a craving for meaning and fairness in life, for direction and love, for
peace and happiness. We all have that kind of hunger? We feel it especially
when disastrous events occur—like the recent devastating storms or the Colorado
shooting or the death of a loved one. A hunger for answers: Why do random
tragedies like these happen?
Many in the crowd don’t really get what Jesus is talking
about. They can only think of physical perishable food for the stomach. But others
sort of get what Jesus is talking about. They mention the prophet Moses and
their ancestors “who ate manna in the wilderness.” Recall, that story of the Israelites:
liberated from Egypt and aiming for the Promise Land, flowing with milk and
honey. Along the way they get lost and wander for a while in the wilderness. At
one point they are without food and “complain against Moses and Aaron,”
accusing them of trying (as the text says) “to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” This
story provides Jesus with an occasion to talk about spiritual hunger and spiritual
food. The Israelites were not only
wandering in a geographical wilderness, but they were lost and wandering in a
spiritual wilderness. The food sent to them from heaven, was not only the
physical food of manna which they ate, but also the spiritual food of Torah revealed
to Moses on the mountain. Jesus tells
his Jewish audience that just like their ancestors, they needed to eat not only
physical manna, but also spiritual manna from heaven, bread that is eternal and
satisfies the eternal hunger is their souls.
So, what is this spiritual food that lasts forever? What does
Jesus mean when he says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will
never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty?”
What is Jesus is talking about? Jesus’ answer to us today is not
surprising, but to people then it must have been rather shocking. In essence he
says I m that manna from heaven; I am the food you are to eat, I am the food
that gives you spiritual energy and direction through the wilderness of life.
Whatever we hunger for, Jesus is saying, whatever we are
searching for in this life, we can be sure that by consuming Jesus our hunger
will be satisfied. That’s why heaven sent Jesus like manna to earth; to satisfy
our hunger and to quench our thirst.
So, do we hunger for?
*Truth, love, fulfillment? Jesus is
the food for us.
*Justice, freedom, and dignity? Jesus
is the manna for us.
*Meaning, purpose, and happiness?
Jesus provides.
These are the big bold questions that we all face in some
form or another. But there are smaller, everyday kinds of hungers that Jesus
also satisfies: *loneliness, *depression, *getting through another day, *the
heartache of a broken relationship; *the erosion of life by illness, *how to
get my kids to adulthood in one piece, *how to get myself through parenting in
one piece; *how to overcome fears and anxieties an anger, *how to overcome
addiction? These are all hungers of the human for which Jesus is the bread from
heaven.
We could discuss how Jesus satisfies each of these spiritual
hungers, but that might take a year or so. The point I want to make now is that often
even Christians seek to satisfy these spiritual hungers not with soul food but with
various sorts of biological foods that cannot satisfy: self-help books,
accumulated material possessions and pleasures, professional prestige, power
over others, and all manner of self-indulging amusements; by doing so, we are
substituting perishable food for eternal food and our souls’ hunger remains
unsatisfied.
In contrast, how does Jesus satisfy these hungers?? He says,
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever
believes in me will never be thirsty.” How so? How can this be? Answers are not simple or easy.
We are about to participate in the sacrament of Holy
Communion. In it we eat a meal of bread and wine, we consume ritualistically Jesus’
flesh and blood. What does doing that mean to us when we eat them? Do we really
believe (as Jesus asks the crowd to believe) that the work of God is to trust
Jesus as manna from heaven, food that satisfies all the cravings of our souls?
Do we really act like Jesus is soul food that satisfies us?
Even more challenging! Do we realize that in eating the bread
and drinking the wine, we, as a Christian community, become the Body of Christ in
the world today; that by consuming the bread and wine we commit ourselves to
providing soul food for others; as the Body of Christ we are promising to
satisfy the soul hunger others have for manna, for spiritual food. As a congregation,
are we offering food that satisfies the spiritual hunger of our community? In
many ways I think we already are: noon lunch; bible studies; dinner groups; missions
to Honduras and Haiti, worship services, healing services, Sunday School, counseling;
we are ears that listen, hearts that care. One food Trinity provides that goes
a long way toward satisfying hunger in my soul is the choral and organ music.
What other ways might Trinity provide spiritual food for the
spiritual hunger in our community? What
other imperishable bread might we add to the smorgasbord of foods we as the Body
of Christ provide? This Fall what ministry might you get involved in to help
satisfy the hunger of starving people? How hungry are you/we? Would we walk
miles at midnight to satisfy our spiritual hunger? Would you sacrifice for
spiritual food in the same way you sacrifice for physical food? Are you that
hungry?
May God give us here at Trinity the courage to be the bread
of life for hungry people here in Staunton and in the Shenandoah Valley.
No comments:
Post a Comment